The collections consist of annual reports, minutes of the executive committees, rule books, other papers and some minute books and registers from local branches.

One of the more interesting items is the admission and withdrawal of members book of the Amalgamated Gilders’ Society, London branch. This includes an entry for one man who was thrown out the union, as he turned up drunk to audit the books and when he was told to leave, he tried to fight the Secretary.

Another is the annual reports of the Alliance Cabinet Makers Association in the 1870s, which contain lists of books that were available in their library. This gives an interesting insights into the kind of books the members were reading including Plutarch’s Lives, Martineau on Political Economy, Thiers’ History of the French Revolution, novels by Charles Dickens and the Rights of Man and Common Sense by Thomas Paine!!